The Willpower Debate: Why Can't Obama Quit Smoking?

A doctor explains why some people finding it harder than others to break the nicotine habit

President Obama's press conference covered a lot of topics yesterday—including, unexpectedly, his continuing struggle to quit smoking. To help us understand just how hard it is for some people to break their nicotine addiction, we turn to Dr. Richard Hurt, Director of the Mayo Clinic's Nicotine Dependence Center.

This is a legitimate and worthwhile conversation. Millions of Americans struggle with tobacco dependence and hunderds of thousands will die this year as a result of their use. That is news!! Many of these people want to stop smoking and cannot. Maybe having an intelligent national conversation about this subject-matter will help others to start thinking, at leat thinking, about changing in a healthy way which, as far as Im concerned, is much more news-worthy and important than what SC Gov M. Sanford has been doing for the past five days.

You are not alone Karen.I have been wondering what has happened to NPR with its radical switch from unbiased well researched news programming to this liberal talk radio format.They must of had a change in leadership at NPR. The changes over the last couple of years have been devastating.

Is it too much to ask for intelligent news analysis instead of tabloid style shenanigans?This morning's dramatic and "in your face" focus on Obama's smoking problem made me feel like I was listening to a ridiculous talk radio show host with an agenda, not a program dedicated to news analysis.

As a long time listener/member, I frequently wonder why Morning Edition was replaced with the Takeaway. Today was the final straw. I guess I'll tune into the FM in the morning.KD